Can someone PLEASE explain about Princess Michael of Kent?

Question

I've always been confused by her title. Her husband is Prince Michael, as we know. Why is she know as Princess Michael rather than Princess Marie-Christine. I mean she did marry a prince. Just when Diana married Charles, he being the Prince of Wales, she became Diana Princess of Wales.

To you British this may all make sense, but to us Amerians we get very easily confused with all the various titles.

P.S. Is Prince Edward Edward Montbatten Windsor or Edward Wessx. I know his wife goes by Sophie Wessex, but I thought all decendants of The Queen and Prince Philip were to be called Montbatten Windsors.

Please help?

Answer 1

BEC, Diana would never be known as "Princess Charles of Wales" because her husband was never "Prince Charles of Wales". Such a person would be a son of a Prince of Wales. Diana would be known as "Diana" (because that is her name), "the Princess of Wales" (because that was her title) or  "the Princess Charles" (but only in her full titles which included many of the Prince of Wales' other titles).

Diana was formally known as HRH The Princess of Wales because her husband was HRH The Prince of Wales. When she divorced, she used the format used by the divorced wives of peers, which is to add the title to the end of her name.

Marie Christine von Reibnitz is known as Princess Michael of Kent because her husband is Prince Michael of Kent. A woman in the United Kingdom traditionally takes the name of her husband with social titles in the feminine form. For instance, the wife of Mr. John Smith would be Mrs. John Smith. In the British Royal Family, particularly, the form Princess <Woman's name> is generally indicative of a princess by birth, although there have been some exceptions. These are UK-specific conventions, royals on the continent more often than not allow a woman who marries into a royal family to use her own name.

Prince Edward's names are Edward Antony Richard Louis. As a titled royal he has no surname but he "adopted" one informally when he wasn't using his royal title. First he was Edward Windsor and then Edward Wessex, but these are comparable to a "stage name" and are not his legal names. Sophie uses the name "Wessex" for the same reason. IF they had legal surnames, they never would have made the change from Windsor to Wessex, but they simply don't.

The surname Windsor is for male-line descendants of Queen Victoria who are subjects of her realms who are not princes or princesses. The surname Mountbatten-Windsor is for the male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II who are not princes or princesses. Anytime you see that surname attributed to a prince or princess it is informal. They don't have surnames.

Answer 2

I am an American and I understand your difficulties but here it is:

When a commoner marries a prince she take HIS title and becomes "Princess Husband's Given Name"(very old-fashioned and archaic,I know and changing).Some women have such personality and are known by their own names like Diana.Formally she should have been known as HRH Princess Charles of Wales,but she had such a great sparkling personality that she was known as Diana.

Edward may go by Edward Wessex or Edward Mountbatten-Windsor but he is a royal with a title;here is a simple rule for you:

Titled royals may use their titles as names.

An example of this is Charles and his sons. Charles is Charles,Prince of Wales,so his family uses Wales to differentiate their branch of the family. Andrew of Duke of York,so he and his girls are the Yorks.

Non-royally titled descendants who NEED a surname do use Mountbatten-Windsor,but those with extra-royal titles use their titles as names.

Addendum: Marie-Christine is commonly known as "Princess Pushy" for her very grand,high and mighty ways.Even the Queen considers Marie-Christine "very grand...too grand for us."

cfvh: IF you read my answer correctly I did not say that Diana was knwon as Princess Diana of Wales,just that she was known by Diana.I know that she was Diana,Princess of Wales and not Princess Diana,which is what THE MEDIA called her.

Answer 3

Edward is mountbatten windsor, except that he uses the title of wessex.

marie-christine prefers to be called princess michael , because marie christine reminds everyone of how catholic she is. prince michael lost his place in line, but the kids were raised protestant so they are still in line.